There are as many types of content marketing as there are types of content--far too many to cover here. My intent is to give you an introduction to content marketing and get you thinking like a content marketer so you’ll see the opportunities all around you. Soon you’ll be coming up with 50 content marketing ideas every day. You won’t be able to stop seeing opportunities to create content. Here are five examples to help your mind start percolating.

^ Fisk, R.P., Brown, W. and Bitner, M.J., "Tracking the Evolution of Services Marketing Literature, Journal of Retailing, vol. 41 (April), 1993; Booms, B. and Bitner, M. J. "Marketing Strategies and Organizational Structures for Service Firms" in James H. Donnelly and William R. George (eds), Marketing of Services, Chicago: American Marketing Association, 47–51; Rafiq,M. and Ahmed,P.K. "Using the 7Ps as a Generic Marketing mix: An Exploratory Survey of UK and European Marketing Academics", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 13, no. 9, pp 4–15
PANS: Pans and how you prepare them matter. Light colored pans (and glass) work the best for baking cakes. Dark metal absorbs heat faster and can result in the bottom and edges of your cake burning. The gold standard for preparing pans is the butter, flour, and parchment method. This is covering the pan in a thin coat of butter, dusting it with flour (or cocoa for chocolate cakes) and then lining the pan with parchment paper made to fit. You can also use my homemade GOOP (my favorite for intricate pans!) or non-stick baking spray.

Infographics. These are generally long, vertical graphics that include statistics, charts, graphs, and other information. If you need some examples, here are 197 infographics on the topic of content marketing curated by Michael Schmitz, head of Content Lab at Publicis, Munich. Infographics can be effective in that if one is good it can be passed around social media and posted on websites for years. You can get a professionally designed infographic by hiring a contractor on a site like oDesk or if you want to remove some of the risk you can go with a company like Visua.ly. A decent infographic will usually cost you at least $1,000 to have designed, but can cost several thousand dollars if you are hiring a contractor or agency to include strategy and planning, research, copywriting, and design. There is also the matter of promoting that infographic to bloggers and the media. Or you could set up a board on Pinterest and curate infographics on a topic related to your business. That is also a form of content marketing, and it costs nothing but your time. Hey, it worked for Michael.

Want to get the word out there and boost your visibility on social media without taking years to build the audience? Then you should certainly leverage influencers. But the key is to find the right influencer. You don't have to go with influencers with millions of followers. You could opt for micro-influencers with tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand followers.
It’s no surprise that the fashion-minded Simpson, whose clothing line is a hit, would coordinate her wedding cake with her gown. Playing off the dress’s gold embroidery, the cake – by Joanie and Leigh’s Cakes in Bel Air, California – was covered in an elegant burnished gold fondant, as well as a layer of fluffy Italian meringue buttercream. And instead of having just one flavor combo, Simpson and Johnson, who married July 5, chose two: coconut cake with a coconut cream filling and vanilla cake with mixed berries and cream.
It’s critical that your marketing department uses their understanding and analysis of your business’s consumers to offer suggestions for how and where to sell your product. Perhaps they believe an ecommerce site works better than a retail location, or vice versa. Or, maybe they can offer insights into which locations would be most viable to sell your product, either nationally and internationally.
Baked flourless cakes include baked cheesecakes and flourless chocolate cakes. Cheesecakes, despite their name, aren't really cakes at all. Cheesecakes are in fact custard pies, with a filling made mostly of some form of cheese (often cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta, or the like), and have very little flour added, although a flour-based or graham cracker crust may be used. Cheesecakes are also very old, with evidence of honey-sweetened cakes dating back to ancient Greece.
For five generations and almost 200 years, the Jucker family has been skillful bakers. The family history of baking began in Chrzanow, Poland. In 1932, at the age of ten, twin brothers Sigmund and Sol began working at the family bakery due to a bakers’ strike. Everything was truly handmade – the dough was placed in a trough, and everything was mixed by hand since the original bakery had no electric or handheld mixers.
Want to get the word out there and boost your visibility on social media without taking years to build the audience? Then you should certainly leverage influencers. But the key is to find the right influencer. You don't have to go with influencers with millions of followers. You could opt for micro-influencers with tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand followers.
Marketing has become too important to be left just to the marketers in a company. We say this not to disparage marketers but to underscore how holistic marketing now is. To deliver a seamless experience, one informed by data and imbued with brand purpose, all employees in the company, from store clerks and phone center reps to IT specialists and the marketing team itself, must share a common vision.
We divided the survey respondents into two groups, overperformers and underperformers, on the basis of their companies’ three-year revenue growth relative to their competitors’. We then compared those two groups’ strategies, structures, and capabilities. Some of what we found should come as no surprise: Companies that are sophisticated in their use of data grow faster, for instance. Nevertheless, the research shed new light on the constellation of brand attributes required for superior marketing performance and on the nature of the organizations that achieve it. It’s clear that “marketing” is no longer a discrete entity (and woe to the company whose marketing is still siloed) but now extends throughout the firm, tapping virtually every function. And while the titles, roles, and responsibilities of marketing leaders vary widely among companies and industries, the challenges they face—and what they must do to succeed—are deeply similar.
It may look simple on the outside but the Pitch Perfect co-star’s wedding cake by Crushcakes was made up of two layers of Rice Krispies treats, and three different cake flavors: salted caramel, carrot crush and lemon berry. Plus, the cascade of pastel flowers tied in perfectly with the rest of the dessert table outfitted by La Tavola Fine Linen Rental.
When the Dancing With the Stars judge was deciding on a wedding cake for her July nuptials to the NHL star, she pictured a “simple, elegant design,” cake decorator Kayla Carey told PEOPLE of the dessert covered with all-white buttercream frosting and embellished with a cascade of fresh flowers. “As far as flavors go, Julianne lives a pretty healthy lifestyle and didn’t want anything too heavy,” said Carey. “Each tier was four layers of cake with a layer of strawberries and cream, a layer of blackberries and cream and a layer of raspberries and cream.”
The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably."[6] A similar concept is the value-based marketing which states the role of marketing to contribute to increasing shareholder value.[7] In this context, marketing can be defined as "the management process that seeks to maximise returns to shareholders by developing relationships with valued customers and creating a competitive advantage."[7]
On the first day in many Marketing 101 courses, professors often define marketing as, "all the processes involved in getting a product or service from the manufacturer or seller to the ultimate consumer." It includes creating the product or service concept, identifying who is likely to purchase it, promoting it and moving it through the proper selling channels.
From a model-building perspective, the 4 Ps has attracted a number of criticisms. Well-designed models should exhibit clearly defined categories that are mutually exclusive, with no overlap. Yet, the 4 Ps model has extensive overlapping problems. Some of the Ps are only defined in vague terms. Several authors stress the hybrid nature of the fourth P, mentioning the presence of two important dimensions, "communication" (general and informative communications such as public relations and corporate communications) and "promotion" (persuasive communications such as advertising and direct selling). Certain marketing activities, such as personal selling, may be classified as either promotion or as part of the place (i.e. distribution) element.[47] Some pricing tactics such as promotional pricing can be classified as price variables or promotional variables and therefore also exhibit some overlap.
To understand what separates the strategies and structures of superior marketing organizations from the rest, EffectiveBrands (now Millward Brown Vermeer)—in partnership with the Association of National Advertisers, the World Federation of Advertisers, Spencer Stuart, Forbes, MetrixLab, and Adobe—initiated Marketing2020, which to our knowledge is the most comprehensive marketing leadership study ever undertaken. Coauthor Keith Weed, the CMO of Unilever, is the chairman of the initiative’s advisory board. To date the study has included in-depth qualitative interviews with more than 350 CEOs, CMOs, and agency heads, and over a dozen CMO roundtables in cities worldwide. We also conducted online quantitative surveys of 10,000-plus marketers from 92 countries. The surveys encompassed more than 80 questions focusing on marketers’ data analytics capabilities, brand strategy, cross-functional and global interactions, and employee training.

Though Scruggs’s style for her December 12 wedding to the E! News co-host leaned toward traditional, she wanted a contemporary cake – not a problem for Fancy Cakes by Lauren, a Dallas bakery. After studying the bride’s Pinterest boards, baker/owner Lauren Kitchens dreamed up a glamorous six-tier confection that was “light and ethereal,” she said. The buttercream-covered layers (amaretto with toffee filling and vanilla with salted caramel mousse) were decorated with hand-made deep pink sugar flowers, lace appliqués made from fondant and paper thin ombré chocolate ruffles.

This P is likely the one you expected from the get-go: promotion entails any online or print advertisement, event, or discount your marketing team creates to increase awareness and interest in your product, and, ultimately, lead to more sales. During this stage, you’ll likely see methods like public relations campaigns, advertisements, or social media promotions.
When in New Paltz, don't miss a trip to The Bakery. Residents consider The Bakery, with its rustic outdoor cafe and beautiful gardens, to be the center of social life in New Paltz, a place to meet people, bump into old friends, or sit quietly and read the papers. Known since 1981 for great bagels, croissants, rolls, rugulah, danish and butter cookies, The Bakery includes a coffee bar and full lunch menu. Experience New Paltz! Visit The Bakery.